


Aftermath

by idrilhadhafang



Series: TROS Revisited [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dead Sheev Palpatine, Eventual Finn/Rey/Rose Tico, Finn Needs A Hug (Star Wars), Finn/Rey In Chapter 3, First Kiss, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Multi, Past Character Death, Past Torture, Rey & Rose Tico Friendship, Rey Needs A Hug (Star Wars), Star Wars AU - No Palpatine, eventual polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28483878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: After the battle of Crait, both sides regroup and recuperate.
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Finn/Rey/Rose Tico, Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Rey/Rose Tico
Series: TROS Revisited [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086434
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6
Collections: Bad Day Collection





	1. Rey

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Hey, everyone! Call this a canon divergent AU series I’m writing where Palpatine remains dead as a doornail.

“Your lightsaber’s broken.”

That was what Leia said even as Rey sat next to her again, her lightsaber in ruins after the catastrophic altercation on the Supremacy. When the lightsaber had just split in half. Rey didn’t know how it had done it, what had rammed the Supremacy and broke the Force tug-of-war between them, but it really was just another symbol of how badly she’d failed. 

"I know,” Rey said. “Ben...didn’t help.” She thought of his face, the anger there, the sheer explosiveness in his voice as he screamed at her for holding on. Holding on to the idea that he could be redeemed...

She’d been stupid. Did she really deserve to pay for that stupidity?

Leia winced. “Did he?”

”We were struggling over the lightsaber,” Rey said. “It came apart.”

”Holdo.”

Rey blinked. “Who?”

”Vice Admiral Holdo. She...rammed the Supremacy. Took out most of the fleet. It didn’t stop m — Kylo from attacking on the grounds of Crait, but at least it bought us some time.” Leia took a deep breath. “She was...brilliant. When she was younger, she was a bit odd. A bit absent-minded, very much a nonconformist. She kept some of that when we were both adults. And old women.” 

Leia’s voice cracked. She sounded like she was about to cry. Rey bit her lip, let a hand settle on Leia’s shoulder. 

“I’m all right, Rey,” Leia said. “I’m only sentient. Everybody falls down sometimes.”

Rey nodded. Like she had, on the Supremacy. Tears streaming down her face as she had tried to reason with Ben, and then as he had poked, prodded, at a burden she wasn’t ready to bear. 

“I thought I could save him,” she said. “I wanted him to come with me.”

”Rey, it wasn’t your fault,” Leia said. “If Han couldn’t reach him, how could you? There was...I guess his monsters won.”

Rey swallowed. She couldn’t deny that.

”You were strong. You were kind. You tried to help my son.” Leia smiled faintly as she spoke. “I can at least be grateful for that."

Rey looked down at the shattered pieces of the lightsaber in her hand. “Is it...never going to work again?”

”You can’t fix it,” Leia said. “But you can make a new one. I think it’s time you made a new one.” Then, “I have experience in that area. I was a Jedi. Was..."

”Was?”

Leia winced again. “It is a long story. But we need a power cell, an emitter matrix, a crystal, and a lens.” She smiled. “You can use whatever crystal you want. As long as it’s not red.”

”Why not red?”

Leia sighed. “Well,” she said, “The Sith usually use it. I suppose it’s part of their identity. A way to show they belong to the opposing side, like what a Resistance symbol represents.”

”It’s just a symbol,” Rey said. Then, “Could you help me? It’ll be...odd, using my staff again.”

Leia smiled. “Every step of the way, I’ll be there to help you.”


	2. Finn and Rey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey talks with Finn. It doesn’t go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Trigger warning for past torture. As for Rey and Finn...I don’t actually blame her for being manipulated, but I can imagine Finn feeling at least somewhat betrayed just by the fact she ran to help Kylo after what Kylo did to him, Han, Rey herself, Poe, etc. Finn just needs time to think. That and he doesn’t want to hurt Rose’s feelings.

“Are you okay?”

That was what Finn asked even as Rey wandered over towards the main hold again. She was already having trouble sleeping, and now...now she found that the main hold was her best form of refuge. 

Finn was still watching over the black-haired girl. Rose, she was apparently called. Rey had heard that she had stopped Finn from sacrificing himself; she could at least be grateful for that. 

“Not really.” Rey sat down, across from Rose’s unconscious form. They were headed to Bespin. The best place they could go, actually, after Crait. 

It wasn’t her fault. Rey knew that much. But it didn’t stop her from thinking it was. That she should have been there. That she should have been able to stop the Resistance fleet from being destroyed. 

That was another one of her nightmares, she thought. Snoke, pulling her towards the viewport of the Supremacy, forcing her to watch even as the Resistance ships were picked off. Before he tortured her. Before he all but yanked Luke’s location out of her mind...

How had that even happened? She’d repelled Kylo’s attacks before. And yet she’d been helpless before Snoke. Stupidly helpless, like a damsel in distress needing a big strong man to save her...

”Nightmares?” Finn said. 

Rey nodded. “I saw the fleet,” she said. “I saw them being picked off. Snoke forcing me to watch.”

”Oh stars, Rey...”

Finn took Rey’s hand. Rey couldn’t help but feel a certain sort of stability, in him taking it. When they’d first started out, she hadn’t been used to the idea of consistent sentient contact. Finn was the first. Now, she found she needed it, just to keep herself from collapsing, remembering. 

“He...he tortured me. Like B — Kylo did, the first time. And I couldn’t fight him off. He got Luke’s location.” Rey’s voice cracked. "I worked so hard to keep it from Kylo, and Snoke got it...”

”Hey, hey. It’s not your fault.”

”It’s my fault I even got into that situation!” Rey said. “I...”

She told Finn. He deserved, at least, to know the truth. When she finished, he blinked. “Rey,” he said, “Even...even after what he did to me and Han, to Poe...you went?”

Rey snorted. “If you’re telling me I’m stupid, I’ve told myself that more times than I can count.”

”You’re not stupid, but...” Finn swallowed. “Did I mean anything to you? Was I just someone you could throw away?”

”No! You mean...you mean everything to me. When I fought Kylo on the Starkiller planet...I nearly fell to the Dark Side. I hated him, for what he did to you, and even on Ach-To...” Rey ran a hand through her hair. “You were always in my thoughts, Finn. Always. I was so worried about you. I...” Before she knew what she was thinking, she said, “I _love you_ , Finn!”

Finn’s eyes widened. “You were...worried about me? And you...love me?”

”Yeah.” It made sense. It made too much sense. The sheer feeling of ease that she felt about him. He had been handsome, she noticed about him. Holostar handsome. And the giddiness she felt around him when they had outrun the TIE fighters. The feeling of warmth, of solidarity, of relief — she felt all those around him. 

Anything she’d felt like that around Kylo...well, that had just been a shadow and a thought that she chased. Finn was better than Kylo. He always was. 

Rey fiddled with the threads of her tunic. “I thought I could find...something with Kylo. Kinship, perhaps. He can’t give me that. He’s incapable of giving."

”You just realized that now?”

Rey nodded. 

Finn sighed. “I just need...time to think. To choose.” 

He walked away. Rey watched him go, feeling like she had lost two people — Kylo, who she’d thought could give her more than she was capable of, and Finn. 

She had to at least make it right by Finn. She had to. 


	3. FinnRey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A talk with Poe helps Finn make a decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_— cradling Rey’s body in his arms, trying to wake her, even as the hum of a lightsaber being twirled sang menacingly in the background —_

_— “Traitor!” —_

_— “That lightsaber; it belongs to me!”_

_”Come and get it!” —_

_— managing to get in some nicks on Kylo, but it still wasn’t enough —_

_— scorching, burning flesh —_

Finn was at least relieved to snap awake in time, just to know he was in the Millennium Falcon. Safe.

Ren had done all that. All of it. And yet, Rey had decided to go running to him. To try and save him. How was he worth saving? He didn’t kidnap Finn as a kid; Finn’s earliest memories of the First Order had been of Hux and Phasma. But he hadn’t done anything to stop the kidnapping of children. And then he’d assumed that just because Luke did him wrong that he could kill innocent people from thereon in. 

Like somehow he was entitled to revenge. 

Finn sighed. He needed time to think, at least.

***

Poe didn’t seem to be in any better a mood. Poe picked at his food, looked down at his plate, almost like the food was an indecipherable riddle.

”You okay?” Finn said. 

“I...didn’t really tell you how I recognized Kylo Ren, did I?” Poe said softly. “I think you deserve to know.”

***

”I swear, first Rey, now you,” Finn said. “It’s like I can’t get away from Kylo Ren.”

They were in the garage, sitting across from the workbench. Poe sighed. “You could say that.” Then, “Jakku wasn’t the first time I met him.”

“What?” Finn said softly. 

Poe took a deep breath. “We grew up together. Him and me.”

Finn furrowed his brow. What would a young Kylo Ren — a young Ben Solo — even look like? He couldn’t picture it. Couldn’t picture anything other than the monster in the forest on the Starkiller planet with blazing eyes. 

“He...loved me. Or I thought he did. He really looked up to me, thought the galaxy of me. Even in my worst moments, he seemed to think that I was some sort of god.” Poe laughed, shakily. “I thought he loved and believed in me, but I guess it didn’t stop him from cracking me open...”

”Poe.” Finn, in that moment, wished that there was something more he could say. Why was he feeling sorry for Poe and not for Rey?

Poe looked away from him. Finn had never seen him like this, not after the Finalizer, not after Starkiller Base or the attack on the First Order Dreadnaught, or anything like that. It seemed that he’d found Poe Dameron’s breaking point. 

“It’s not your fault,” Finn said. “Really. You didn’t know what he could become. You didn’t know.”

”Yeah. I just...don’t know why.”

Finn told him. 

He watched as Poe’s heart seemed to fracture into pieces. Then, “I don’t believe you.”

”According to Rey, Luke admitted it.”

Finn watched as Poe buried his face in his hands. “I just need a minute,” he said. “Maybe several.”

Finn nodded. Left. 

***

”I thought about it more,” Finn said to Rey. They were in the main hold again, after everyone else had left. 

Rey nodded. “What do you think?”

”I understand. A little. You didn’t know Ren was gonna get worse. I guess I got angry because...what if I didn’t matter?”

”You mean everything to me,” Rey insisted, and she sounded so earnest that Finn’s heart broke. 

“I love you, Rey,” Finn said. “And even after both our hearts stop beating, I’ll fight for you. I let you down earlier, but — ”

Rey didn’t say anything. Just nodded. Then, “Have you ever kissed anyone?”

”No. You?”

”No,” Rey said. “Guess that makes two of us.” She smiled, a bit wryly. 

They kissed, and it was imperfect, maybe a bit giggly, but it was them, and it was enough. 

“Hey, Finn?” Rey said, even as they broke away. 

“Yeah?”

”In a way,” Rey said, “You saved me too. You were the first person to be kind to me.”

”You were one of the first people to be kind to me."

Rey smiled, faintly. “I guess we’re even.”


	4. Rose, Rey and Finn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose meets Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Thank you to the two people who kudosed! And thank you for reading.
> 
> Also, the Rey/Rose and Finn/Rey/Rose...I didn’t expect it, but honestly, Rose being infatuated AF is absolutely precious. ❤️

Her head hurt. Rose wouldn’t deny it, even as she stirred, waking up and wincing. It was Finn who all but ran over towards her. 

Finn. The last thing she remembered was kissing him. It had seemed like the most logical thing to do when everything was falling down around them. It had seemed like it had made sense. 

This, though...had it seemed too soon, now that Rose really thought about it. After all, she had only known Finn for a few days or so. She’d been starstruck. Incredibly starstruck. Finn, who had defied the First Order, freeing himself from their control. Finn, who had fought Kylo Ren on the Starkiller planet. Finn, who, when Paige had heard, she had gushed with Rose over how heroic he was. 

In holovids, a kiss was practically a marriage proposal. In holovids, a kiss was all but binding. 

Would it be here? She was relieved to see Finn alive. But...

”Hey,” she said. 

“Hey,” Finn said. “You gave me a good scare right there, what with...what happened.”

”I couldn’t just let you die,” Rose argued. “Not if it was possible to save you!”

”I’m glad for that,” Finn said. “It’s just...” A sigh. “You scared me. I didn’t want...anyone to die for me.”

The way he sounded...had he experienced that before? 

“I had a comrade,” Finn said. “He was called Slip. Poe shot him; I...I know Poe was defending the village we were attacking. He’s that kind of man. But it struck me how real it was. And Slip was always considered the stupid one. He wasn’t — I felt like I was the only one who thought that. But it was my first real experience with death. And I thought you were on your way to becoming another Slip...”

”I’m sorry I ever called you a selfish traitor,” Rose said, softly. 

“You didn’t know.”

”Still. Finn...you’re brave. You’re loyal. I think that’s why I had a crush on you...you were a good man.”

”Am I still?” Finn said. 

Rose nodded. “I just don’t know if I still have a crush is all.”

”Rey and I...we’re together.”

Rose didn’t miss the way his voice grew soft. “Stars, you found her,” Rose said, in wonder. 

“Finally,” Finn said. 

***

Rose met Rey, and Rose couldn’t help but be struck by her — she was beautiful. Straight, long brown hair. A smile that seemed to light up her face even as she greeted Rose. “Hey,” she said. “You...you’re Rose Tico.”

”You’re Rey,” Rose said, suddenly feeling shy in comparison. This was Rey — the woman that had defeated Kylo Ren on the Starkiller planet. The woman who had saved them at Crait. Gorgeous (unfairly pretty to the point Rose felt shy around her), capable, heroic...and as Rose sat down with her, she was charming as well. Pretty and happy. Even watching the both of them...

Rose couldn’t say which one of them she was more jealous of. Finn, heroic and handsome, Rey, gorgeous and charming and funny. Some of her curiosity about things, her delight at something as simple as Falcon food, the different types...

Kriff. Kriff kriff kriff. It seemed like Rey was drawing Rose even further under her spell. It was just being starstruck, wasn’t it? It was just meeting her, being awed that this was the woman who saved the Resistance.

Rose couldn’t possibly be crushing on both of them. 

But Rose found herself laughing along with Rey’s comments at the right times, and seeing Rey laugh — stars, it was unfair. 

Her romantic rival should not be this damn charming and pretty. 

***

”So, um...good luck with Finn.”

Rose wished she didn’t have to say that, when the high of a first meeting wore off. She didn’t miss how Rey smiled at her...that welcoming, friendly smile that made Rose internally chastise herself for the sunshine puns that would come to mind. 

“Finn’s a good man.” Stars, even her voice... “A wonderful man. I...had an experience with a not-so-wonderful man. Learned my lesson.”

”Men can be like that. Uh, not Finn, though."

Rey smiled again. “I heard you’re into mechanics. Maybe you could show me some things?”

”Oh. Yeah! Don’t know what you’d have to learn though; you’re really good.”

Rey laughed. “Not at everything. I didn’t tell you, but I was training with Master Skywalker, and...” She burst into giggles. “I mistook reaching out with the Force for literally reaching out. I got smacked on the hand with grass for my troubles.”

”Ouch,” Rose said, sympathetically. 

“It was kinda funny, looking back,” Rey said. A sigh. “I do miss him. He wasn’t perfect, but in the end, he did the right thing.”

”Yeah. Maybe you can tell me more while we work.”

***

”You’ve done this before?” Rose said. 

Rey nodded. “I used to be a scavenger. It pretty much required me going into the bellies of ships.”

”A scavenger.” Rose paused; what did you say to that? To a woman who grew up abused? It was a miracle she was as sweet and cheerful as she was. “It sounds hard.”

”It was. I do miss my family...but I guess what matters is focusing on the now.” Rey tsked even as she looked over at the tattered walls. “Poor thing; she’s a bit roughed up.”

Around them, Porgs scattered and squawked. Rose smiled. “You could keep one of them,” she said. 

“That’s lovely,” Rey said. “I can’t say we ran into many cute things on Jakku. Wasn’t exactly a breeding ground for cute.”

”Well, you’re with us. You saved us.”

Later, a Porg waddled over towards Rey and Rose, and seeing the look of excited glee on Rey’s face —

Yeah, Rose was completely kriffed. For Finn, and for her. Rose was falling for her...and Rey didn’t know. 


End file.
